It might just be the longest mural ever
installed in city history. And you can have a chance to
help paint it. Join a dedicated group of Bremertonians Saturday
from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. to help paint the back of the Peninsula
Community Health Services building.

There’s a special place in Mike Hale’s heart for English
culture. As the longtime Washington brewer prepares to
open his newest location in Bremerton, a cherry red London-style
double decker bus sits in its driveway; inside a tasting room in
the English pub tradition is taking shape at 15th Street and North
Wycoff Avenue.

Mike Hale.

He calls the location of his brand new barrelhouse one nestled
in a “middle class, beer drinking neighborhood,” that he’s proud to
join. “Nothing but good vibes here,” he said.

Hale was looking for a warehouse space in Kitsap that would make
it easier to get beer to market. His company self-distributes. What
would cost millions in Seattle can be bought for a fraction in
Bremerton. The barrelhouse is a way to go “deeper” within the
local market, rather than expanding wider. He’ll become the
fifth brewery doing business in Bremerton.

The location is another move west for Hale and his wife
Kathleen, whose brewery
churns out about 10,000 barrels each year. What started in North
Spokane about 33 years ago moved to Kirkland in 1987, then to
Seattle in 1995. There was a brief stint at the Kitsap Mall that
didn’t work out for a variety of reasons. “My hubris caught up
to me,” he joked Monday.

The barrels are
in.

With brews like Supergoose IPA gaining a huge following, I asked
him if he’d ever want to go bigger. Absolutely not, he told
me. He loves being locally owned and made — the beer is fresher,
the company happier, and that includes himself, he said.

The city told him its zoning code would require a retail
element; Hale gladly obliged. His tasting room is just under 750
square-feet — any more would’ve required a massive overhaul to
bring the building into modern standards.

Hale plans a soft opening to coincide with the annual Volkswagen
van fest at nearby Hi-Lo Cafe July 9.

15th and Wycoff.

There will be 23 beers on tap to choose from, including — you
guessed it — English style hand pumps and three nitro taps. Many of
the beers will be barrel-aged. Hale envisions hours from 3-10 p.m.
on Fridays and Saturdays as a start.

He invites customers to bring food in from other venues to eat
and share; there won’t be food service outside of maybe some
pretzels, he said.

And what does that mean? The High-intensity activated
crosswalk beacon is a fancy way of saying pedestrians are getting
their own traffic light to cross Sixth Street at High Avenue
(concept pictured).

Currently, you have to walk to either Veneta Avenue
or Naval Avenue to find a safe place to cross there.

The pedestrian improvement is one of five around the
city, totaling $688,000 in grant-funded projects. The Bremerton
City Council approved a contractor to begin the work in July, with
completion in September.

More pedestrian improvements are coming to Kitsap Way
and 11th Street, Charleston Boulevard and First Street and 11th
Street and High Avenue.

Councilman Greg Wheeler, himself a frequent walker
around town, praised the changes, which he says have “opened up
opportunities” for pedestrians of all kinds to get around town.

“We’ve literally had a hard time getting folks safely
across our city,” he said.

County coming to help with streets — but
there’s a catch

The most contentious issue on Wednesday’s agenda was
two contracts with Kitsap County, respectively, to do road striping
and paving.

That may sound like routine work, but city and county
lawyers have for months been disagreeing over the language of the
agreements to do the work. “The holdup has been indemnification
language,” Bremerton Public Works Director Chal Martin told the
Council.

Basically, the county, in doing the work, does not
want to be held liable for anything that happens along the way,
unless they are the “sole” cause of it.

Martin ultimately asked the Council to approve the
contracts, even with the language. The reason: the re-striping of
the city’s streets will cost about $60,000 if the county completes
it. A private contract would run about $120,000 to $200,000, Martin
told the Council.

That risk-reward equation divided the Council.
Wheeler and Councilwomen Leslie Daugs and Pat Sullivan voted
against it. The other four voted for it, so it barely passed,
4-3.

In his monthly report, Bremerton Police Chief Steve
Strachan talked about how the department is ramping up its bicycle
patrols.

The goal, he said, “is to contact people who may be
causing problems in neighborhoods.”

Strachan said that in April and May, cops on bikes
hit the streets of downtown and in surrounding neighborhoods.
Officers made 50 arrests in two months, to go with 361 “contacts,”
or face-to-face interactions.

“We’re hitting it very very hard,” Strachan said.

Councilman Jerry McDonald, who represents downtown
and Manette, was appreciative of the efforts and hoped the
department could do more.

“I know they’re making a difference out there,” he
said.

Trees at Blueberry Park

A $7,500 grant from the Washington State Department
of Natural Resources will fund the planting of 50 trees at
Blueberry Park in East Bremerton, which the Council approved.

Retirement system needs more
money

The City Council approved $544,000 for a contract
with Regency BlueShield to pay for medical expenses not covered by
Medicare for what are known as the city’s LEOFF 1 retirees.

These retirees from the city’s police and fire
departments have medical expenses paid for in retirement. That
changed in 1977 and now police and firefighters are covered under
the LEOFF 2 plan, which does not fund health care in
retirement.

The City Council passed an updated building code
Wednesday night as well. Jeannie Vaughn, the city’s building
official, went over several changes, including one involving
“utility basements.” Basically, owners who only use basements for
utilities but seek to make them habitable for people must have an
“escape” or “rescue opening”

It was a magical moment,
watching Bremerton High School’s class of 2016 high-five every
elementary school kid they could. The journey the high
school seniors made to their elementary alma matters is one the
Bremerton School District
hopes will become an annual tradition.

You’ll see the full experience on
this week’s Bremerton Beat Blast, as well as:

The Naval Ammunition Depot along the shores of Ostrich
Bay might’ve closed in 1959 but evidence of its former life
remains. Around 20 bunkers still protrude the dense
forest that has grown back in the years since the Navy left its
shores.

One bunker.

Thanks to the 75 or so of you who came out for the Kitsap Sun’s
latest Story Walk Saturday. (If you couldn’t make it, the park is
located at 1900 Shorewood Drive and is open from dawn to dusk.
There’s a trail uphill from the parking area that leads to the
bunkers; a waterfront paved pathway that runs perhaps a
quarter-mile; and shoreline access.)

Regardless of a few showers — one walker referred to it as
another “Slosh with Josh” — we got a nice hike in and took a
closer look at the controversy surrounding a
locked gate that now separates the park from The Landings,
formerly Jackson Park.

Here’s a brief timetable of NAD Park, which dates back more than
100 years.

1902: The U.S. Government appropriates money to
purchase the land, around 250 acres, of what we now know as the
park, Jackson Park and the other portion of NAD Park nearer to
Kitsap Lake. The land is purchased for about $14,000.

Photo by Greg
Salo.

1908: The “magazine depot” is commissioned; it
wouldn’t be until 1916 that it becomes known by the name we know it
as today. Picture ships filling Ostrich Bay, waiting for munitions,
as there was no water or electricity to the area.

1940: The depot has come into its own, with a
wharf, railroad access and around 40 buildings to its name. World
War II sees its height as an ammunition depot.

1959: With not much room to grow and new depots
developing at Bangor and Indian Island, NAD closes.

1965: Jackson Park Housing is created, named
for the US Senator “Scoop” Jackson. Years later, Highway 3 cuts NAD
in two when it is built.

Whenever you see a park
bench named for someone, there’s a story behind it. I had
been wondering about who Michael Bartlett was until I met Candiya
Mann, his longtime girlfriend. His name graces a green bench at
Bachmann Park, the site of filming for this week’s Bremerton Beat
Blast.

At first, I naively thought I just
had a staunchly patriotic neighbor, whose alarm clock
would play the National Anthem each morning at 8
a.m. It was 2007 and we had just moved to Winfield
Avenue in Manette. What I didn’t know was that music was coming
across the Port Washington Narrows from the Puget Sound Naval
Shipyard, which plays it each and every day.

And Bremerton residents know that isn’t the only song
played for all the town to hear.

“Evening Colors,”
also known as “Retreat,” “Day is Done” or “Tattoo,” is played year
round as well but not at the same time, according to Shipyard
Historian Cristy Gallardo.

“Everyday it’s sounded at the
official sundown time, so it changes by a few minutes throughout
the year,” Gallardo told me.

She points out the evening tune is not “Taps,” which
now is mostly limited to military funerals and memorials.

As you might’ve guessed, the songs are programmed to
play automatically through the Shipyard’s “Port Operations” post.
It “doesn’t require human interaction at all,” she
said. “It just does its thing.”

How far back this tradition goes is uncertain.
Gallardo told me it’s been the practice at military installations
since before the Civil War. She suspects that the Marines, who
actually arrived before the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard opened in
1891, probably even started something given their devotion to
tradition and propensity to carry a bugler.

There’s no plans to discontinue this time-honored
practice, she added. Just think, if we were near an Army post, we
might hear “Reveille” every
morning instead.

There was plenty to do at Wednesday night’s
City Council meeting. The Council approved a new contract
for the Kitsap Conference Center, a boost to the parks department’s
maintenance staff and even accepted a $20,000 donation from the son
of a fallen Council member. Here’s my full report:

Four more years for Columbia at Conference
Center

The City Council approved a nearly four-year
agreement for Columbia Hospitality to continue operating the Kitsap
Conference Center. Columbia has done so since the facility opened
in 2004.

Columbia will be paid $7,500 monthly and receive 1.5
percent of gross revenues. That’s an increase of $500 per
month.

Several Council members expressed displeasure that
they didn’t have long enough to review the contract; Councilwoman
Pat Sullivan mentioned that the city hasn’t competitively bid the
contract for managing the conference center but said that at this
point “I don’t believe we can afford to lose the momentum we have
gained.”

The conference center has rarely been in the black
financially (see chart). There was talk that the Great Recession
and the government shutdowns of the past few years took a toll.

Council Members Dino Davis and Leslie Daugs voted
against the extension. Davis complained that the city hadn’t done
its “due diligence” while Daugs wondered if the city was
“subsidizing a business.”

Council President Eric Younger, in addressing that
point, said few conference centers are profitable and that most are
an “economic tool.” He asked Arne Bakker, the conference center’s
general manager, if he was right about that.

“For a conference center this size, it’s very
difficult to make money,” Bakker replied.

Readers of this blog and the Kitsap Sun know that
Bremerton’s parks department has struggled to keep up with
maintenance needs. The promotion of Jeff Elevado to parks director
following
Wyn Birkenthal’s retirement meant Elevado’s former position of
recreation manager remained open.

Instead of filling it, Mayor Patty Lent’s
administration chose to
follow an analysis’ recent recommendations and beef up the
front desk at the Sheridan Community Center — making part-time
front desk staff member full time — and is adding a full time
maintenance worker.

Not all Council members were happy with the move;
Greg Wheeler and Leslie Daugs voted against it. Wheeler felt the
position of recreation manager was important “long term,” and not
filling it would be detrimental. Daugs said frankly, “I don’t like
eliminating positions.”

Elevado had support from the other five members and
reiterated why he’s supportive of adding staff at the maintenance
level.

“Our maintenance staff is really beat up,” he
said.

Arends Park?

Jack Arends, son of longtime Bremerton Councilwoman
Carol Arends, gave a $20,000 check to the Bremerton Parks
Foundation. His mother,
who passed away earlier this year, was particularly fond of
Forest Ridge Park, which she lived by for many years, he said.

Carol Arends.

He’s hopeful the Council would consider renaming
Forest Ridge for his mother.

“I wanted to do what I could to honor my mother’s
memory,” he said. “She loved that park.”

Jailing to continue in Forks

The Council approved unanimously continuing
a contract with the Olympic Peninsula city of Forks for jail
beds. Why? The city saves about 50 percent on the cost of sending
someone sentenced in Bremerton Municipal Court to Forks instead of
Kitsap County Jail. A bed night at Forks costs $41.45, for
prisoners who have year-long sentences.

Bremerton Public Works Director Chal Martin explained
where all the money generated from $20 car tab fees will go this
year. See below:

Yes, Austin Drive is being repaved this year. Also, a
new guardrail will go in where a young
woman tragically died earlier this year. And finally, all those
cut-up curbs on Warren Avenue and Wheaton Way were largely paid
for by the state, but the city must provide some matching funds.
The road, collectively known as Highway 303, will be repaved next
year. The Council approved the plan unanimously.

Public path from Gorst to Kitsap Lake gets
funding

Last but not least, the Council passed unanimously,
but did not discuss Wednesday, $30,000 in funding from the city
forestries department to pitch in with Kitsap County for a design
study of a trail spanning Otto Jarstad Park in Gorst to the south
end of Kitsap Lake. It may be the start of efforts that have
sputtered in the past.